FBI Concludes Poisoned Alcohol Did Not Cause Deaths of American Tourists in DR

Several American tourists who have died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic were rumored to have fallen fatally ill from poisoned alcohol, but the FBI says that’s not the case.

The FBI conducted toxicology tests on the deceased tourists, and methanol poisoning was ruled out as the cause of their deaths. The FBI said its findings matched the results of tests done by Dominican authorities, the U.S. State Department said in a statement to HuffPost. However, the agency is continuing its investigation, and they are currently testing two other toxins in three of the deceased, BuzzFeed New reports.

“In the interest of providing as thorough an investigation as possible in this challenging case, the FBI is testing for two additional toxins and will provide Dominican authorities with results when tests are complete,” FBI officials told BuzzFeed. So far, at least 10 people from the U.S. have died following their trips to the DR, which were between June 2018 and June 2019. Several of the victims’ family members explained that their loved ones had visited a bar or gotten a drink while on vacation, which sparked the idea that the drinks might contain a hazardous liquid.

However, the State Department announced the results of its toxicology reports on Friday. It also alerted the families of the deceased and Dominican officials. “Methanol poisoning from tainted alcohol was ruled out by the FBI in these cases during the toxicology screening, and it was not the finding in any other cases of U.S. citizen deaths investigated by Dominican authorities,” the State Department said. But, Steven E. Bullock, an attorney representing Holmes and Day, believes there’s more to his clients’ deaths. “You had a couple that died of the same ailment at the same time, and they want to say that it’s natural causes,” Bullock told the Times. “I think there’s something for us to continue to look into.”